Everyone has beaten Swadia into their last city, Uxkhal. There are 12 Swadian lords inside, each with about 20 troops, plus 60 garrison. That's too many dudes for my modest Nordic crew, so I need one of the other factions' help.

But none of them can finish the job. Khergit Khanate tried for a bit, then left. Rhodoks tried, then left. And now my own Nord king is trying. I just want one of those morons to finally capture Uxkhal, because my army needs to be out there beating down the Khanate, not sitting on top of Uxkhal and molesting the fleeing lords.

So, can I leave my this (often lonely) siege and trust them to finish it? Or do I need to capture this city myself?

Why not siege along with the Nords already there? But by calculating that would be about 300 troops there... not to mention probably low ranked troops and such... should be fairly easy to take them down.
–
LyrionApr 4 '13 at 11:14

@Lyrion Typically, the longer a city, castle, or lord stands without being defeated, the more advanced and numerous their troops become. Say you wipe out all but one faction during the game, and never attacked that one faction. When you go to conquer that final faction, their castles, towns (and Lords if you hadn't been defeating them on the field) will all be garrisoned high tier troops. This can make finishing them off difficult. If, on the contrary, you keep pressure on them and keep killing their units, they will only ever have low tier units/recruits.
–
Lemmings19Apr 4 '13 at 15:13

I have had the AI of my own faction finish off the last remaining King in the game for me, but never tested to see if they would take out a single remaining stronghold. (The king was roaming as I had taken all of his towns/castles.)
–
Lemmings19Apr 4 '13 at 15:14

@Lyrion Nords and Vaegirs both failed to take Uxkhal. If you remember, the siege of Uxkhal is up a ladder on a narrow stretch of castle walls. I'm trying to help Rhodoks take it now, but their crossbow-loving morons can't get up over the wall. The battle is about 1000 Rhodoks vs 300 Swadians. I join the battle but it never ends; I get wounded, and I have to leave. Should I just wait until they kill each other down to a reasonable fight? Also, how do I not get bumped off the ladder every single time?
–
AndrewNordFaceApr 6 '13 at 12:58

@AndrewNordFace To be honest I had a different playstyle, my army consisted mostly of Hired Blades and some Archers. I just attacked walked on the ladder with shield up and between some Hired blades and just keep advancing. Hired blades are the bomb :p I had about 200 of them.
–
LyrionApr 6 '13 at 14:58

1 Answer
1

One trick I used to use (for non-seige engine attacks) is to load up on good archers, and organize them top of the list. I also had several NPCs with good medical skills etc that help convert "deaths" to "injuries". You also need pretty good morale going in.

Basically, you siege, attack by merely parking your archers in a right at your spawn, (or if needed advance so that they can actually hit stuff), line up and have them shoot until they expend all their arrows and switch to melee weapons. Make sure any of your infantry that spawn are as far back and parked as you can.

Retreat. Repeat.

Once you whittle the castle down a bit, then switch the order of your troops to a better mix of archery and melee, line up the archers and send the infantry up the ladders. You can recall them after then get to the top so you surge and charge a few times. If you manage to get a group of your guys over the wall, then go all in.

With this tactic, I have taken castles where I was outnumbered 3:1. If you get knocked out though this falls apart.

Thanks everybody for the quick replies. I left the Nords to handle the siege while I replenished my army. But when I came back, they had already left. Now the Vaegirs are attempting, and they might just win with my help. However, there are still 16 Swadian lords inside, and their armies have grown from (0/1) to 20 or 30. They somehow keep sneaking out and getting fresh recruits. Oh, and since I left the earlier siege, the Khanate captured my first (and only) castle. Screw those guys.
–
AndrewNordFaceApr 6 '13 at 9:13